Electrolysis is a process whereby the electric current is used to promote the decomposition of contaminants in the influent. The use of an electrolytic cell in water treatment industry is known for years. These applications include production of required oxidants in the process and use them to eliminate harmful and unwanted organism. Most modern sewage treatment facilities and modern agriculture mature treatment facilities are using an initial anaerobic solids digestion step to generate methane gas to generation equipment to power the facility. A byproduct of the methane generation from organic materials is ammonia generation from urea and other organic nitrogen compounds in the effluent.
A problem with electrolytic base water treatment equipment is scale build up on electrode surface. As the treatment progresses, chemical fouling occurs due to oxidation reaction occurring at the anode and reduction reaction occurring at the cathode. The scale and fouling build up in the reactor requires higher current to maintain the same potential across the electrodes.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these issues.